Former India captain and one of the best all-rounders of all-time, Kapil Dev is celebrating his 62nd birthday today on January 6, 2021. Kapil Dev was the captain of the Indian team which won the World Cup in 1983 defeating then two-time champions West Indies in the final at Lord’s, England.
Kapil Dev was born in Chandigarh in 1959 on this day and was coached by well-known cricket coach and Dronacharya Award winner Desh Prem Azad. After impressing the selectors on the domestic circuit with his pace, Kapil was handed a Test debut against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1978 and picked Sadiq Mohammad as his maiden Test wicket.
Being the first real fast bowler from India after independence, Kapil grew through the ranks quickly and scored his maiden Test century against the West Indies in Delhi.
Dev was given the captaincy of the Indian team at the age of 24 and led India to an unthinkable title win, beating West Indies twice in the tournament and defeating England in the semi-finals. He himself led from the front, hitting India’s first ODI century, a brilliant knock of 175* against Zimbabwe, which came when India were 17/5. His knock helped India win the match and move forward into the semis.
Kapil Dev lauds Jasprit Bumrah saying “He can rattle batsmen more often than any other bowler”
He picked one wicket and took a brilliant running catch of Viv Richards to turn the tide of the game in India’s favor who were defending 183 runs.
Dev continued to perform brilliantly even as years passed by, picking his best-ever Test bowling figures in an innings- 9/83 against the West Indies in the Ahmedabad Test of 1983. He bowled India to a win at Melbourne taking a five-wicket haul with an injured thigh.
He continued on until 1994, when he ended his career with 434 Test wickets, the most at that time in 131 Test matches. He also made 5248 runs with 8 centuries to his name and is the only player to achieve 400 wickets and 5,000 runs in Tests.
In 225 ODIs, Kapil picked 253 wickets with a best of 5/43 and has a hat-trick to his name against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in 1991. He then coached India for a while after retirement and has since dabbled in commentary.
Kapil Dev was named the Indian Cricketer of the century in 2002 by Wisden, beating the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar. He was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2010.
Today as he turns 62, the Indian cricket fraternity took to Twitter to wish him good health and a very happy birthday.
Here are the tweets:
